Barry McBee might not be a Navy SEAL, but he knows the University of Texas System’s legislative priorities inside-out.

McBee, the system’s vice chancellor and chief governmental affairs officer, filled in Wednesday for Chancellor Bill McRaven, who has fallen ill with the flu and was not able to address a group of CEOs and other business executives meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel for an “education summit.”

McRaven became chancellor this month after 37 years in the military, having qualified as a SEAL after graduation from UT-Austin and rising in the ranks to four-star admiral in charge of all U.S. special operations forces.

McBee touched on priorities that McRaven and other chancellors are pressing during the legislative session, including bond funding for campus construction and renovation projects and an appropriation to cover the cost of free tuition for military veterans and their dependents. He said the UT System supports a proposal to hinge some of the funding for its campuses to their performance on graduation rates and other metrics.

“We want to be held accountable for what we do,” McBee told the Texas Business Leadership Council.

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